Sull’onda emotiva dell’omicidio dell’influencer conservatore Charlie Kirk, il presidente degli Stati Uniti, Donald Trump, ha dichiarato sulla piattaforma TruthSocial che intende designare “Antifa, come una “grande organizzazione terroristica”. L’annuncio è stato fatto tramite un post sui social media poco prima dell’1:30 di giovedì, ora locale, mentre Trump si trova in visita di Stato nel Regno Unito. Nel post, il presidente ha definito Antifa un “DISASTRO RADICALE DI SINISTRA, MALATO E PERICOLOSO” e ha aggiunto che raccomanderà “fortemente” di indagare sui finanziatori del movimento.

La misura di Trump contro Antifa

Un funzionario della Casa Bianca ha dichiarato alla Cnn che questa designazione rappresenta “solo una delle molte azioni che il presidente intraprenderà per affrontare le organizzazioni di sinistra che alimentano la violenza politica”. Come riportato da Breitbart News, il vice capo di gabinetto della Casa Bianca, Stephen Miller, ha promesso di “utilizzare l’intera forza del governo federale per colpire e smantellare il movimento terroristico domestico di sinistra organizzato negli Stati Uniti”.

Si tratta di una mossa piuttosto rischiosa da parte della Casa Bianca, che potrebbe accrescere il clima di tensione e di radicale polarizzazione nel Paese. Antifa, abbreviazione di “antifascista”, è un movimento noto soprattutto in Germania che si è diffuso anche negli Stati Uniti, piuttosto decentralizzato. Non ha un vero e proprio leader designato, o una struttura definita. Il movimento dichiara di opporsi al fascismo, al suprematismo bianco e all’estremismo di estrema destra.

Che cos’è “Antifa”?

Il termine “antifa” deriva dal tedesco “Antifa”, abbreviazione di “antifaschistisch” (antifascista), usato per la prima volta nel 1932 dal Partito Comunista Tedesco per indicare un fronte multipartitico contro il nazismo. Negli Stati Uniti, a partire dalla metà degli anni 2010, “antifa” identifica genericamente i partecipanti a proteste di sinistra contro la brutalità poliziesca e il razzismo, come i contro-manifestanti al raduno Unite the Right del 2017 a Charlottesville.

Sebbene Trump abbia intenzione, come peraltro già manifestato in passato, di designare Antifa come “organizzazione terroristica” dal punto di vista pratica potrebbe essere piuttosto complesso perché il movimento, come già accennato, manca di una leadership o struttura formale.

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L'articolo Dopo l’omicidio di Kirk, Trump designa “Antifa” come “organizzazione terroristica” proviene da InsideOver.

Extremism is on the rise in Germany – left-wing extremism to be precise. While the better part of the country expresses its concern about the right-wing AfD and its extremist “flügel,” people remain rather silent when it comes to the left side of the aisle. Germany’s politicians, as well as the public, refuse to recognize the threat that continues to emanate from the left, even though the statistics, as well as recent occurrences, could not be any clearer.

The Lurking Threat Of Germany’s Extreme Left

Whenever the rise of populism or the right is being debated, one’s proclivity is to refer to the AfD and the right-wing elements within its ranks⁠ – due to Germany’s history.  As for the (ex)communists of Die Linke, who openly reject the German state and democracy while being monitored by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution? Very few people seem to care.

In the second quarter of 2019, violent attacks against politicians occurred on average ten times a month. In the third quarter of 2019 alone, German police registered a total of 31 cases of assault or grievous bodily harm directed against politicians, according to a response from the government to an inquiry by the AfD. Twenty-four victims were AfD members, who, regardless of whether they belong to the Flügel or were amongst the moderates in their party, are considered Nazis by the Left. Accordingly, the perpetrators were mostly part of the left milieu, police statistics show.

Left Wing Violence Has Become The Norm In Germany

Left-wing violence against in many forms has become almost routine in Germany over the years. In addition to politicians, left-wing violence is aimed at police, who they believe act as “puppets” for the “oppressor state.”

According to 2018 statistics from the Federal Ministry of the Interior, left-wing extremist were responsible for 108 arson attacks (11 by the extreme right), 48 cases of dangerous interference in rail and air traffic (12 by the extreme- right), 376 cases of resistance crimes against the police (74 by the extreme-right), and 2,219 cases of property damage (905 by the extreme-right). Right-wing extremists were, however, far ahead in terms of bodily harm with 938 to 363.

These figures are hardly a surprise. After all, the extreme-left has a track record, which states that they neither accept the state democratically legitimized by the consent of a majority of the population (i.e., elections) nor its monopoly on law and order. They consider violence against the hated⁠—and in their eyes repugnant ⁠—system as progressive and legitimate counter-violence, as non-violent systemic change to a “better society” is impossible in their view. Moreover, the far Left strives for political alignment and social leveling of society and consider parliamentary democracy as a form of government that could transform into a fascist regime at any time.

Recent Examples Of Left Wing Violence In Germany

Accordingly, the list of recent examples is plentiful. On October 3, 2019, several cranes burned on a construction site, resulting in damage in the millions. Shortly afterward, a letter of confession was published on Indymedia: “We set the night on fire.” As a bonus, the perpetrators published the affected contractor’s address on the website also, putting the individual in direct physical danger.

At the beginning of November, two men rang the doorbell in Leipzig at a female real estate agent who also sells high-quality apartments in the left-wing Connewitz district in Leipzig. She opened the door and was then attacked with punches. In this case, too, a letter of confession followed on Indymedia: The real estate agent had been hit where “it really hurts: in her face.”

A columnist of Axel Springer Verlag, publisher of Germany’s largest daily newspaper, was not much luckier either. His car was set on fire for the second time, followed by a letter of confession publish – again – on Indymedia. In it, the perpetrators suggested the columnist is urged to “change jobs.” Naturally, his address was also published.

On New Year’s Eve, violent acts and riots occurred across German cities. Rioters in the Connewitz district of Leipzig acted particularly aggressively against police officers. More than 1000 people came together at the Connewitzer Kreuz at midnight and lit fireworks. Shortly after midnight, according to the Leipzig Police Directorate, officials were “massively attacked with stones, bottles, and fireworks.” “A group of violent criminals tried to push a burning shopping cart into the middle of a riot police unit and fired massive pyrotechnics at it.”

The most recent case only happened this week. Approximately 1,600 individuals had demonstrated on Saturday evening against a ban on the aforementioned extreme-left online platform www.indymedia.org, the mouthpiece for leftist violence. In the further course of the demonstration, among other things, rockets and firecrackers were detonated, bottles and stones were thrown at police officers and vehicles were damaged. Thirteen police officers were injured.

Germany’s Newly Resurgent Extreme Left Is Egregious

While there has always been an extreme-left resistance, the new level of escalation and the militancy it has transformed into, resembles terrorist quality in some instances, per legal definition. The state, as well as the wider society, must react, as all forms of extremism are egregious and without a place in Germany’s democracy.

However, considering the reactionary nature of German politics, the issue on the left will likely only get addressed seriously once a significant crime occurs⁠—only by then it will be too late.

L'articolo Germany Remains Blind In Its Left Eye proviene da InsideOver.

The dust is still settling on Saturday’s clashes between right and left-wing demonstrators in the US city of Portland, but President Donald Trump has already decided who’s responsible. 

Even before the two sides came to blows, in fact, Trump had renewed his threat to label the Antifa (anti-fascist) movement a terror organization. As if the message wasn’t clear enough, he then retweeted a message describing Antifa as a “violent, anti-civil liberties, group of thugs.” There was no mention of the Proud Boys or any other far-right group that stood against them.

Trump’s position on Antifa is enthusiastically endorsed by the American right. Two of his fellow Republicans are already pushing their own Congressional resolution to proscribe Antifa; conservative broadcast networks routinely regurgitate footage of the group’s clashes, and have jumped on reports that Antifa activists vandalized vehicles in Portland.

But if Trump and his followers really want to stop Antifa, they’ve got a problem. To shut down a movement, you have to collar its leaders. And Antifa doesn’t really do leaders. 

The movement isn’t really an organization at all, but rather an amorphous collection of local groups, orchestrated by activists who rarely reveal their identity. While the right-wing has easily recognizable figureheads like Joe Biggs, the Proud Boys organizer who rushed to address the media after Saturday’s clashes, Antifa’s organizers prefer to shield themselves with balaclavas and black uniforms. 

What the movement does have, however, is ideologues – a group of writers and broadcasters who provide both its conscience and terms of engagement. None of them are directly involved in organizing Antifa events, yet their articles have laid out Antifa’s core principles and provided a set of causes to fight for.

As the clashes between left and right continue, each person profiled here is gaining prominence, as well as criticism from conservative circles. Trump may soon decide to pick a Twitter fight with them, to appease his right-wing base. But, if he does so, they’re unlikely to back down.

Mark Bray

Formerly a key member of Occupy Wall Street, Bray has spoken at several Antifa events and is arguably the movement’s most important thinker, thanks to his bestselling Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook. In the book, Bray charts the rise of anti-fascism from the 1920s and provides advice from antifa members past and present. 

One of Bray’s core concepts is “pre-emptive self-defence” – the idea that fascists need to be stopped as soon as they emerge to avoid further harm down the line. He believes that, in certain situations, violence and destruction of property is ethically justifiable – and uses the shutdown of controversial speaker Milo Yiannopoulous as a case in point.

Bray has also argued for a fundamental change in America’s economic and political establishment, writing that  “capitalism stokes the far-right” and that “Trumpism is merely the latest wrinkle on [a] longer history of white supremacy in the US”, which can only be ended with a fundamental, root-and-branch rethink.

In addition to his media work, Bray is a history professor at Dartmouth College, a private university in New Hampshire, specializing in modern politics, terrorism and human rights.

Natasha Lennard

An author and columnist for various titles including popular grassroots website The Intercept, Lennard is among the most popular commentators on Antifa. She’s also one of the most uncompromising.

In her own words, Lennard’s recent book Being Numerous: Essays on Non-Fascist Life makes “a philosophical defense of punching Nazis.” Her articles echo this belligerent tone, encouraging readers to “make Nazis afraid again” and “crush the racist far-right”. In her view, the history of anti-fascism “is not one of polite protest, nor failed appeals to reasoned debate with racists – but direct, aggressive confrontation.”

Lennard is a vehement critic of Trump’s immigration policies, suggesting they are nothing less than “mass murder,” and has written equally passionate columns about topics such as gender equality and the treatment of sex workers. Echoing Bray, she believes that fascism was “baked into” capitalism and is an inevitable offshoot from it.

Daryle Lamont Jenkins

Much of the coverage of Antifa stems from the tactic of ‘doxxing’, the naming and shaming of far-right activists on social media. If there is a ‘doxxer in chief’, it’s Daryle Lamont Jenkins.

Jenkins is the founder of the One People’s Project website, which purports to unmask right-wing individuals and has assembled a ‘rogue’s gallery’ of alleged neo-Nazis. The movement has unearthed far-right activists from towns across America, but vows that it will only ‘dox’ someone after vigorous research. 

Jenkins, 51, says he got interested in activism by hunting Ku Klux Klansmen as a child, and sharpened his snooper skills while serving as a police officer in the US Air Force. He’s been monitoring and documenting white supremacists since the late 1980s.

In addition to his monitoring work, Jenkins has produced several films about the alt-right and anti-fascist movements, including the acclaimed 2018 movie Skin.

Dan Arel

A journalist and broadcaster, Arel is a regular contributor to several titles including the progressive website Truthout, and hosts the Danthropology podcast which has featured commentators such as Bray.

Arel has written on a range of subjects, from the evils of gentrification to the dangers of religion. He has openly accused Trump of being a fascist and believes that conservative criticism of Antifa is simply a “right-wing conspiracy theory to make the public afraid of the left.”

Never afraid to court controversy, Arel has been criticized by right-wing opponents for calling conservative commentator Dave Rubin – who is of Jewish descent – a Nazi on Twitter. He also caused heated debate on the same platform by writing “I believe victims of rape”, a comment taken by some to mean that all rape accusers should be believed unconditionally.

James Anderson

Anderson is an editor of and spokesperson for the anarchist website ItsGoingDown, which spreads news of Antifa doxxings and, in its own words, “promotes revolutionary theory and action”. 

The site is one of the most popular left-wing news platforms on social media, and was reportedly receiving up to 20,000 hits a day in the months after Trump’s election. Its collective of authors publish links to far-left demonstrations and brings reports of repression around the world, as well as encouraging support for anarchists in prison.

Anderson has given several interviews condemning the subculture around Trump and suggesting that several members of his administration are only “one circle removed” from Richard Spencer, one of America’s most infamous white nationalists.

L'articolo Taking on Trump: Meet the ‘Brains’ of the Antifa Movement proviene da InsideOver.

In the wave of the violence used by right-wing extremists, many seem to forget the violent side of the extreme left. Without defending the alt-right, we must seek to condemn all violence, regardless of which side it comes from.  

Richard Rorty, one of the most important liberal political philosophers of the late 20th century, said that “if you think you’re going to change the mind of a Nazi with the use of an absolutist ethic, you’re missing the boat”, and Albert Camus, another prominent philosopher, warned of the possibility that anti-fascism could come to mirror its enemy and that it could start to embrace the very same principles of domination and the overuse of violence that it sought to fight. One glance at the Antifa today proves both thinkers right. 

The Antifa rose to prominence as a response to alt-right groups which gained an increase in exposure after the election of Donald Trump as President of the USA. Amongst the many left-wing populist groups that have seen a resurgence, the Antifa stands out as the most outspoken and the most aggressive. The name ‘Antifa’ is an abbreviation of ‘anti-fascism’, though the group routinely adopts violent, fascistic practices to silence dissenting voices. While the Antifa has caused quite the buzz in mainstream media, the anti-fascist movement has been around for nearly a century. Historically, anti-fascism was defined as “a reactive and militant opposition to fascist groups in power”. It was birthed out of the need for marginalized groups to fight against anti-democratic and authoritarian ideologies characterized by strong nationalism. 

Fascism first arose after the First World War; it was the first time the black shirts and fascism as a concept appeared in a global political arena. They advocated an aggressive nationalism where the culture of their people was portrayed as superior to other people’s cultures. In devastating post-war times, high unemployment and difficult social conditions run amok in European societies and resentful workers started to look to the newly formed Soviet Union with its communist agitation, which won many benevolent listeners. As resentment surged among workers, and strikes and factory occupations became increasingly common, a counter-reaction came. Young men with black shirts and determined gazes marched through the streets, calling themselves fascists. 

Fast forward to more recent times, fascism-like movements have taken a life of their own. Fascists no longer call themselves fascists. They patrol the streets in illusory costumes and are out to hunt everything, from Trump supporters to dissenting journalists. On Saturday, June 29th, the Antifa descended in Portland for a counter-demonstration to the ‘Him Too’ protest, a movement organized by the radical right-wing group Proud Boys in support of Brett Kavanaugh and against ‘false rape charges’. Violence erupted, and journalist Andy Ngo, who is an outspoken critic of the Antifa, was recognized and beaten. The assault was captured on film by local journalist Tim Ryan and on the film we hear people screaming ‘Fuck you Andy’ before he gets viciously attacked with strokes, kicks, sprays, and milkshakes. 

Winston Churchill once said, “The fascists of the future will call themselves ‘anti-fascists’.” It is worth considering. The Antifa has entirely lost the political purpose they once held. A recurring formulation is that the violence by the extreme left is tactically conditioned and intended to protect and defend democracy, but which extremists claim differently? Extremists are dangerous specifically because they take liberties to act above law and consider themselves as saviors in a society that, according to them, is in the process of being overthrown. Why would it be that violence is so much greater when it comes from the right than when it comes from the left? Many believe that the alt-left has a better purpose and that violence coming from them is more justified and unintentional but the reality couldn’t be further from it. Mike Isaacson, one of the founders of Smash Racism D.C., an Antifa organization in Washington, has publicly defended the use of violence as a legitimate tool to combat the creeping threat of what he deems authoritarianism.

The only reasonable attitude which applies to both the alt-right as well as the alt-left is that the purpose does not sanctify the means, and that violent political extremism must always be judged equally regardless of the ideology behind it. 

L'articolo Antifascism Wins Ground in America proviene da InsideOver.